Reclaimed wood, repurposed home items in/around DC

In late October, I saw an ad in the Washington Post Local Living section for an open house at a place that stocks reclaimed wood. I called them, looked them up on Facebook, and thought about going out wherever they were an hour or so west of here.

But then it snowed. The day before Halloween. We didn't go.

I saw on Facebook that they went on despite the weather. I know I saw those photos. But I must have not "liked" the page, because I can't find it.

Now that it's seriously time to look into flooring for our home renovation, I'm determined to get some links down in one place before they slip through my fingers or through the holes in the Swiss cheese that is my brain.

Here are some resources of reclaimed wood and materials for repurposing in/around DC/Northern Virginia:

The Brass Knob in Adams Morgan

Second Chance in Baltimore

Community Forklift in Edmondson, MD

Habitat for Humanity ReStore outlets


Lumber for flooring

Shenandoh Furniture Gallery in Purcellville, VA

Mountain Lumber in Charlottesville, VA

Appalachian Woods in Stuarts Draft, VA

The Woods Company in Chambersburg, PA

Historical Woods of America in Fredericksburg, VA

Looking into cabinets

When we re-did our kitchen this summer, we kept most of our boxes, painted them white, and just got new doors. We also got a few new boxes and doors. We made sure let them off-gas since we were told that low-VOC paints were not durable enough for kitchen cabinets. However, I didn't inquire about formaldehyde and urea.

After reading Good Green Kitchens by Jennifer Roberts, I'm going to be a much more savvy consumer this time around.

Here are many of the links in her Kitchen Storage section, along with a few other companies we're looking into.

AlterECO.com
Bamboo cabinets

Berkeley Mills
Custom cabinetry (and furniture) that is probably way out of our budget, but we'll see when I get the pricing brochure to download.

Cabinet King
Green Leaf line that the book says is made with wheatboard. Site says to call them for a consultation. "We specialize in green cabinetry."

Columbia Forest Products
For plywood. Site says: "Columbia Forest Products is North America's largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer, a long-standing leader in environmental sustainability, and innovator of soy-based formaldehyde-free PureBond® technology."

Laguna Bamboo
I'll give you one guess about their specialty...

Neil Kelly Cabinets
The real deal. Lots of play in the photos in Roberts' book. Based in Portland, Oregon. Local dealer: The Kitchen Brokers in Lorton, VA

SilverWalker Sustainably Crafted Cabinetry
Name says it all. Beautiful stuff.

Woodshanti
From their site: "Woodshanti is a worker-owned cooperative that builds furniture and cabinetry using responsibly harvested lumber and natural finishes. Founded in 1997 in San Francisco's Bayview district, Woodshanti is a synthesis of fine craftsmanship, artistic creativity, environmental activism, and economic stability."

CaseGreen Construction and Consulting
I think this looks cool if you're in Boulder. Not sure that it helps us here on the East Coast.

Sierra Pine
Good source for safer MDF

Smith & Fong
Bamboo cabinets (and floors): Plyboo

Welcome

As I've written on my primary blog, Crunchy-Chewy Mama, my husband and I have purchased the house next door for a price that will let us replicate much of what we love about our current home (also a 1947 Cape Cod), build three bedrooms upstairs, and do it all new and to our style. If we can figure out what that is!

This blog will chronicle one busy working-at-home mom's journey to letting go of a life defined by limits and excuses to one that embraces openness and beauty. While our budget has its boundaries, those don't have to restrict our imaginations. We hope to imagine new possibilities for smart living: flow and spaces that address our clutter patterns so they don't get replicated one address over. And we hope to instill our home with an artistic sense that inspires us to live as mindfully and joyfully as we have designed our space.

And it must make environmental sense. We are not tearing down this home for a reason. Let us make the weeks before we have to make decisions count as we research green materials and protocols and muse on what we want our home to look and feel like.